Surprisingly little known, Vitoria is a dynamic, fascinating and very pleasant city. Visitors will appreciate its architectural beauty and cultural richness, as well as its pleasant pace and quality of life. Situated in the centre of the Alava plain, Vitoria was founded in 1181 by the King of Navarre Sancho VI, who, wishing to extend his kingdom, had acquired adjoining lands. Sancho VI surrounded the city with walls, endowed it with privileges and named it "New Vitoria". Historically, Vitoria has always taken advantage of its strategic location as a crossroads between the province of Castile and northern Europe. In addition to its unmistakable commercial vocation, the city of Vitoria had a special feature: it had a forum that welcomed nobles and commoners alike Today, Vitoria is a prosperous city of 240,000 inhabitants, where the main political institutions of the Basque Autonomous Community are located: the Basque Parliament and the Basque Government (whose president is elected from among the members of Parliament and appointed by the King). Vitoria-Gasteiz is a green city, with a strong commitment to sustainable development. In fact, the city was the first municipality in the Spanish state to adopt Agenda 21, a series of actions designed to integrate respect for nature into local development. It is also the European municipality with the largest area of green spaces, with 42 m² per inhabitant. Perhaps it is because of this quality of life policy that it has so many physical activity enthusiasts: almost a third of its population belongs to sports associations

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Musée des Beaux-Arts. Alce - Fotolia
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